Predicting The NBA Basketball Eastern Conference Champion

Fans, as well as sportsbooks, are already getting ready for the upcoming basketball championships; more specifically, the Eastern Conference championship. ESPN is currently asking fans for their opinion on which teams have the best odds of winning the Eastern Conference for the 2015-16 season. Many believe that LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will take that spot again, but what other NBA teams have good odds of taking their spot.

The fan predictions so far are:

Spot

Team

Projected Record

Points

#4

Washington Wizards

46-36

15

#5

Atlanta Hawks

50-32

14

#6 (tied)

Indiana Pacers

39-43

3

#6 (tied)

Toronto Raptors

44-38

3

#6 (tied)

Boston Celtics

40-42

3

It seems like fans are favoring some teams over others, and they certainly are right to do so. If the last season, as well as current performances, is any indication on future performance, this would be good guesses. Let’s compare these fan predictions against the NBA futures made by a professional sportsbook like Bovada:

Spot

Team

Odds

#1

Cleveland Cavaliers

-300

#2

Chicago Bulls

+800

#3

Miami Heat

+900

#4

Atlanta Hawks

+1800

#5

Indiana Pacers

+2500

#6

Milwaukee Bucks

+2500

#7

Toronto Raptors

+2500

#8

Washington Wizards

+2500

#9

Boston Celtics

+4000

#10

Brooklyn Nets

+7500

It looks like there are some big differences with how fans and sportsbooks calculate which teams have the best chances of winning the Eastern Conference. The Wizards are in spot #8 compared to the fan pick of #4, although the Hawks seem to have pretty good odds, as they were predicted very close to accurate. Overall, the fan predictions were pretty good, but all were missing now are spots #1, #2, and #3. We may still see that the Cavaliers take the #1 spot, as their basketball performance so far has been outstanding.